Keeyask site moved to red level of Manitoba pandemic response system

Manitoba Hydro's Keeyask site has been moved to the red, or critical, level of the province's pandemic response system, the provincial government announced via Twitter Tuesday afternoon.

Twenty Hydro workers at the Keeyask site in northern Manitoba are confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, while another 11 workers are "not clear" as they await the test results to return from Cadham Provincial Lab, Hydro said in a news release Tuesday.

All close contacts are self-isolating. There are 59 workers isolating in dorm rooms at the construction site, the release said.

"We are acting quickly in accordance with the COVID-19 response plan developed for the Keeyask Project and adapting that response as needed — as we all are across Manitoba — to stop the spread of this virus," Manitoba Hydro president Jay Grewal said in the release.

"Manitoba Hydro had already implemented the requirements of a code red designation where applicable prior to this declaration and we continue to work closely with public health authorities and our Keeyask Cree Nation partners to coordinate our response to these COVID cases, providing frequent and timely updates on the situation."

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 at the Keeyask site was announced on Oct. 25.

All workers at the site — roughly 760 people — have been tested for the illness as of Monday, and restrictions such as removing table seating in the dining hall and making workers eat in their dorm rooms have been put into place to reduce potential spread. The Keeyask site is about 710 km north of Winnipeg.

CBC News asked Manitoba Hydro for comment but was referred to the news release.

Red level 'unfortunate' for Hydro

The new restrictions at the construction site "means nothing" to Doreen Spence, chief of Tataskweyak Cree Nation, because she says the communities surrounding the site don't trust the information coming from Hydro.

"It's business as usual for Manitoba Hydro," Spence said.

"They're not being transparent and accountable to us."

The Keeyask site is between several communities in northern Manitoba. In May, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and other community partners of the Keeyask project blocked workers from going to the site, partially because the communities weren't part of the ongoing dialogue about COVID-19 prevention at the site, despite some of their members working there, Spence said.

Fast forward to now, she says it's a similar situation.

"We're not involved and we're only called partners when it suits them," Spence said, adding that many of the restrictions that Hydro has put in place during the outbreak were suggested by the community partners, and it took a while for those measures to be implemented.

Spence is concerned that Hydro does not have the Keeyask outbreak contained, and that all workers there are at risk.

Meanwhile, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said the shift to red level restrictions is "unfortunate that it doesn't bode well for Manitoba Hydro," but added he wasn't surprised to hear the news.

"I was brought onto the call yesterday, so it was quite alarming because there was such differences in what was being reported," he said.

"There was one COVID positive, there was five. Then all of a sudden it ramped up to 31, which is quite problematic because … when you follow the regular formula of how many contacts that is, it's actually quite significant."

On Monday, Dumas told CBC News that he wanted Hydro to be more transparent about the situation. He repeated that call on Tuesday. 

Dumas said the changing numbers and lack of transparency has led the First Nations to question what Hydro is telling them. He said he's now wondering how much, if at all, the Keeyask outbreak has impacted northern Manitoba, where there are currently 164 known active COVID-19 cases.

Both Spence and Dumas want the construction site to shut down until the outbreak is dealt with.

"The leadership has asked from the beginning of the pandemic why this project has been allowed to continue. It's not online. It doesn't provide any power.… So I don't understand why we wouldn't just shut things down until after the the the pandemic is over," said Dumas.